Tag Archives: manual

To most people my age, the 62, 63 and 64 Chevy fullsize cars are more closely associated with the rap or hip culture and low riders. However this particular Impala is pretty strong evidence to the contrary and hopefully a wake up call that the full size cars can be just as interesting as their midsized brethren when it comes to moving fast.

What I dislike about this car:
1. As much as I like any 348 or 409, this really isn’t “the” 409 that we all know from the Beach Boys’ song of the same name.
2. I feel for a top trim fullsize, the hubcaps leave a bit to be desired. From what I understand, they’re correct for the car, I just don’t care for them.

Let me start by saying that when I found out they made a longbed stepside for the 60-66 trucks, I wanted one. They’re super rare and reproduction parts are expensive to say the least, but I just like the way they look. They aren’t very well liked in the 60-66 community (like all long beds), but the guys that do have them, love them. I had convinced myself when I started this build that if I wanted one, I’d have to make one out of a short bed. A daunting task, but I added it to my list of things I would need to do to get the truck to where I wanted it. Thankfully, I have a craigslist addiction that knows no bounds. I found someone with a 1962 GMC long bed stepper (powered by a 305 v6 and a 3 speed manual no less) that wanted to trade for a fleetside. I emailed them immediately and we were both so excited to get what we wanted we scheduled the trade off for the next day.

What I didn’t know is that the wrap-around window 60-63’s sit on a different frame than the vent windowed 64-66’s. It took a little bit of convincing but eventually we finalized the even trade. One bed for another. Here’s the photographic tale of how it happened.

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